Many lottery-style gaming systems may provide a set of playing cards or tickets that could be distributed to participating players who pay for one or more such playing cards to participate in the system. These playing cards may present one or more playing symbols or sets of playing symbols that are compared against winning gaming symbols to determine if a participating player's playing ticket(s) is a winning playing ticket(s) for the game. In many such instances, once the playing tickets have been created/provided and subsequently distributed, the respective lottery game system then selects, randomly or otherwise, one or more playing symbols to be the selected winning playing symbols. After the selection, the system generally then publishes the selected winning playing symbols to the participating players. This publication allows the participating players to compare the playing symbols displayed on their playing ticket(s) to selected winning playing symbols to determine if there is a matchup or at least a partial matchup with the published, selected winning playing symbols. If the participating player has a playing card whose playing symbol(s) matches one or more selected winning playing symbols that playing card, depending upon operator's rules, could be considered a winning playing card with a prize being awarded to the participating player, the value of the prize awarded being increased based on the increased completeness of the matchup.
Another possible version of such lottery style systems could be those lottery games that utilize laminated playing cards with cutout tabs on their top side that generally reversibly covers and seals one or more of the card's playing symbols (e.g., that are generally randomly generated by the system) located upon one of the internal surface of the card's laminates. On such a playing card (e.g., its backside) could generally be found gaming indicia identifying one or more selected winning symbol combinations (e.g., such as standard winning poker game symbol combinations). Generally, these are established winning symbol combinations do not change from game to game (each time the game is played). After the playing card is then sold/distributed, the participating player then pulls open on the pull tab(s) to expose the set of randomly generated playing symbols for that particular playing card. The participating player could then compare the playing card's set of revealed playing symbols with the gaming indicia on the card's backside to determine if the ticket's set of playing symbols matches up with the selected winning combination of playing symbols to establish if the participating player has a winning playing card.
In yet another version such systems, such a Keno, a player of the game may select playing symbols (or has a computer randomly select playing symbols) that are to be printed on a playing ticket or otherwise documented for the play of that particular game. Usually, at a time after the sales of the playing tickets for that game is concluded, the game operator then causes a (generally random) generation of a selected winning combination of symbols which are then subsequently published. The participating players then compare their selected playing symbols (e.g., the ones printed on the Keno tickets/receipts) with the published, selected winning combination(s) of playing symbols to see if there is any matchup that could result in the participating player possessing a winning playing card for that game.
In such lottery game systems, wherein the selection of the winning combination(s) of playing symbols generally is established after the sale/distribution of playing cards/tickets or may be established before sale/distribution of the playing tickets only to use the same selected winning playing symbol combination from game-to-game. In this manner, there could be seen a possible stagnation in actual gaming excitement and failure to realize the full potential of possible gaming excitement/publication/publicity that could be delivered by such systems wherein only the post card distribution time period is used to publicize the game and missing an opportunity for increasing game promotion and overall game awareness by not selecting/publishing the selected winning symbol combinations (that are selected anew each play of the game) before the game play (e.g., before the participation of the player in the game). Further, there can be seen lowered level of interest occurring due continued use of the same selected winning symbol combinations between the games rather than creating new excitement that could come about by changing the selected winning symbol combinations from game to game.
What is needed therefore is a lottery-style game having a playing card/system and methodology of operation wherein a winning combination(s) of gaming symbols used in determining winning playing cards for the game is generally selected anew for each play of the game. The selection and subsequent publication of same could substantially be prior to the commencement of actual play of the game (e.g., the participation of the players in the game). By engaging is such pre-play activities (as well following them up in post-play time period), the invention can build up the publicity and excitement for the game at a much earlier stage and be continued for a longer period that is normally done for those games that only use post-play time period publicity. This significant increase in pre-play publicity could further allow for additional seeding in the public's mind to get excited about the play of the game, much in a way a fisherman could chum the waters before fishing to attract more fish to the fishing site.
The invention could be played by itself or it could be used as a supplemental game used in conjunction with a primary game that generally uses a playing card (e.g., Bingo, Keno, Lottery, etc). As a supplemental game, its play could be conducted separate and distinct from the play of the primary game although the actual playing of the primary game and supplemental game could overlap. In both situations, the supplemental game could be used as an enhancement for the primary game by increasing the player's excitement for the primary game; providing a supplemental revenue stream to that of the primary game; increasing the revenue stream of the primary game; and promoting the primary game by attracting attention of the gaming public during the pre-play time period that is otherwise normally underutilized for the primary game for such purposes.